Oats playing to sold-out show in Zelie
ZELIENOPLE — Rock musician John Oates in recent years has focused on a mix of soul, rock, blues, folk and country music.
Formerly part of the rock duo Hall and Oates with Daryl Hall, the guitarist/singer will play to a sold-out crowd tonight at the Strand Theater.
Together with Hall, he had six No. 1 U.S. singles and many other Top 10 songs from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, including “Sara Smile,” “She's Gone,” “Rich Girl,” “Private Eyes” and “Out of Touch.”
“I don't do a lot of old stuff; it is a solo show,” Oates said. “I do some from the early 70s ‘Luncheonette' and a few from the 80s. It's leaning toward the stuff from the new CD.”
His most recent album, “Mississippi Mile,” features 12 tracks that consist of a few covers and a few originals, “stuff that was inspirational to me when I was younger,” he said.
He is touring with a reconfigured band, including a bass player, drummer, keyboardist and guitarist.
The 287 seats of the Strand will be packed with concertgoers for the show at 7:30 p.m.
Ron Carter, president and executive director of the Strand Theater Initiative, said, “It was a bit of karma for us because I read in his bio somewhere that he likes the small venues because he likes to feel like he's playing to a group of friends in his living room.”
That's exactly how the Strand is marketed, Carter said, “as a venue where you feel like you're being treated to an exclusive performance right in the artist's living room.”
No one in the audience is more than 25 feet from the stage. Carter said he couldn't be more pleased that the Oates concert is the first sold-out show for the Stand.
The 18-day tour led Oates from Chicago, to St. Louis, to Cleveland last night, and now to Zelienople. It will proceed to play dates on the East Coast.
In his time off, Oates said he likes to have a good meal and get to the gym, and as far as new work goes, “there's always something,” he said, “but right now I'm touring with this album.”
